Electromagnetic pattern-controlling apparatus for looms.



N0. 701,2. Patented May 27, I902.

A. P. S. MACQUISTEN. ELECTROMAGNETIC PATTERN CONTROLLING APPARATUS FOR LOOMS.

(Application filed Apr. 15 1902.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT Y GFFI E.

ARTHUR P. STANLEY MACQUISTEN, OF GLASGOTV, SCOTLAND.

ELECTROMAGNETIC PATTERN-CONTROLLING APPARATUS FOR LOOMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 701,211, dated May 27, 1902.

Application filed April 15, 1902. Serial No. 103,001. (No model.)

' for Looms and the Like, (for which I have applied for a patent in Great Britain, dated May 25, 1901, No. 10,766,) of which the following is a specification.

In some looms provided with apparatus for weaving figured fabrics the selection of the threads to determine the pattern is controlled by electromagnets excited by currents transmitted to them by wire feelers bearing on a metallic sheet, parts of the surface of which are made conducting or non-conducting, as the design may require. These wire feelers, arranged in a row and constituting what may be termed a reader, are connected by a number of conducting-wires, which are conveniently aggregated to form a cable, to the electromagnets, and as the reader may be subjected to wear and may require adjustment and repair, while the conducting-wires, once they have been grouped and connected to the magnets, require no repair or readjustment, and, further, as the conducting-wires may be soft and flexible, while the reader-wires are hard and springy, it is important that the reader should be capable of being readily removed and replaced without disturbing the conducting-wires.

The object of inyinvention is to provide a readily-separable connection of the readerwires to the conducting-wires and a simple and electrically-sound construction of the reader and of the appliances for connecting the reader-wires to those of the cable, as I shall describe,referring to the accompanying drawing, which is a perspective View of part of a reader and the conducting connections to the cable-wires.

The wires of the reader A lie in one plane parallel to one another. They are elastic, so that'they can yield a little, if necessary, when the pattern-sheet P is pressed against them; but to hold them firmly in position and give sufficient resistance for good electrical contact I lay them so that they do not touch each other, preferably held by a suitable insulating compound, between tWo bars 13, which maybe of wood or other insulating material and which may be covered over by insulating-sheets D,-the whole being clamped between two girders O, bolted together and to the framing of the apparatus. The readerwires project some distance on the other side of the clamp. In order to steady the wires laterally, it is preferred to cross-stitch between them with non-conducting thread both infront of and behind the clamp, as shown at E.

The cable G is made up of strands, each consisting of a number of fine covered wires I, which spread to right and left and are fixed with suitable insulating compound between two thin sheets K of insulating material, each wire being bent at about a right angle in its bed. By disposing of the wires of the several strands at dilferent levels those of each strand between a pair of insulating-sheets I can lay them at a farther distance apart in each layer, and so insure that their bared parts shall not touch each other. The bared ends of the wires I are twined around and soldered to other intermediate wires H, each of which is wound around a bar L, covered with insulating material between a pair of washers F, which are strung on the bar, each washer being made of good conducting metal, such as copper sheet, covered on one side with insulating material. Along with the wires H the wires A of the reader are held in the spaces between the washers F, one wire A along with one wire II in each space, and then by means of suitable nuts at the ends of the bar L the washers are pressed toward each other, clamping between each of them the pair of wires, and so making sound electrical connection of the wires A to the wires H.

At any time should the reader require adjustment or repair the nuts on the bar L can be unscrewed, so as to loosen the grip of the washers, and then the clamp O can be removed, all the reader-Wires A being Withdrawn from between the washers, between which they can be again placed and clamped.

Although I have described apparatus according to my invention for controlling the electromagnets of a loom, obviously it might also be applied to the controlling of electromagnets for other purposes. For example,

when a perforated sheet or a pegged barrel is employed for controlling electromagnets operating a musical instrument the reader and its cable connections according to my invention might be employed in such apparatus. c

Having thus described the nature of this invention and the best means I know of carrying the same into practical efiect, I claim 1. In a loom-pattern mechanism, the cablewires, the reader -wires, and intermediate wires soldered to the cable-wires, a bar having strung upon it washers each insulated on the one side, and means of pressing the washers toward each other so as to clamp between each pair, an intermediate and a reader wire, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a loom-pattern mechanism, the combination of the intermediate wires, the cablewires, the reader and its clamp, the washers and bar for clamping the reader-wires to the intermediate wires, and the layers of insulated sheets having the cable-Wires. held betweenpairs of them, the intermediate wires being connected to the cable-wires, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

A. P. STANLEY MACQUISTEN.

Witnesses:

ANDREW M. MACINTOSH, DAVID GRANT. 

